Recently I decided I would connect my external hard-drive to a PC in my house so that I could access my music over the network as opposed to connecting it to my Macbook everytime I wanted to access music or movies. Lucky for me it’s incredibly easy to share files over the network between Windows and OS X:

Share a folder or a drive in Windows by right clicking > Properties > Sharing > Check Share Folder

On the Mac, open up Finder and click on Go > Connect to Server…

Enter smb://<your windows pc hostname>

Now you can connect to any shared folder on your Windows machine, but how do we make sure it stays mounted? Simply go to Apple > System Preferences > Accounts > Logon Items > Add the shared volume

That was painless. For all tech readers this isn’t because Mac’s rule, its because of the Samba protocol which enables you to network different operating systems. Samba is now a part of Apple, but lets not forget its open-source roots.

Its been a while since I’ve updated my blog. I’ve been busy with work and playing with the new Mac, but fear not, in the process I’ve discovered a great DVD ripping app called Handbrake. It can rip any DVD you throw at it regardless of protection/encryption or not. You want to preserve the chapters, original quality or export it to your iPod? It can do that too. If you’ve got a dual-core machine expect to rip a full DVD in 10 minutes or less =). As always its open-source and cross platform so you can run it on Windows, OS X or Linux.

Yes we’ve heard many times that Microsoft is the perpetratior of all things evil, but sometimes I think that without Microsoft the computing world would not be where it is today. Of course we would be much farther technologically with open-standards, but there are some Microsoft technologies that we may take for granted:

Office

If you think there is a better alternative you’re kidding yourself. Open Office is good, but it is basically playing catchup with Microsoft Office. Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint are must-haves in the business world. Period. I don’t support proprietary formats like DOCX, but from a feature and usability stand point office has the grounds covered.

Windows Mobile

Do you remember the Treo 300? We don’t want something that ugly and unusable in todays mobile world. Windows Mobile is the reason why we see so many smartphones on the market. You could mention the Blackberry as another alternative but, Windows Mobile brings you the touchscreen support for certain models. The iPhone is great, but it doesn’t have the functionality of a true PDA, not to mention its unrealistic for cell phones to have 700MB of disk space to run the operating system. Microsoft managed to fit an OS on basic cell phones with the features you find on a desktop.

XBox

The 360 rocks. I love playing NBA Live ’07 in HD too. There is no denying that the XBox is a great console, and also a good business move for Microsoft. Which brings me to my next point…

Business

Microsoft can get away with making sub-par software and locking others into their proprietary system. How do they do it? They are masters at negotiation. There is no such thing as being the market leader by accident, Microsoft knew how the business worked, and made it to the top. Unfortunately they aren’t using their power for good, but from a business stand point they have excelled.

Bill Gates

Sure he may be a conniving crook, but he also donates billions of dollars to the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation. Think of Bill Gates as the modern day Robin Hood. Jokes aside, he is a role-model for many. Who doesn’t want to drop out of college and make billions? Its the American dream (maybe not the dropping out part).

Windows

There is a saying, you don’t know what truly tastes good until you’ve tried something bad. Because of Windows we have desktop operating systems that are pushing the limits like Ubuntu and OS X. From an economics standpoint, its a free market – competition is good!

I would like to point out that no matter which operating system you may be using, we all have reaped the benefits of open-source. Believe it or not, there is a little bit of free software goodness in all of us:

Windows Users

I’d say browsing the internet is a must these days. Did you know that the TCP/IP stack in Windows is based off of the original code that was licensed by BSD?

Firefox is clearly gaining new ground on Internet Explorer’s turf. The Mozilla Foundation is all about the open-source baby.

Mac users

The entire OS X operating system is based off of the Darwin kernel which, surprise surprise, is a UNIX variant.

KHTML is the engine that renders web-pages in Safari. Yup, another gift given to you by the free software foundation.

Have you ever printed out a report on your Mac? You just used CUPS which is the Common UNIX Printing Service.

Apple has plans to ditch Microsoft and go completely with Open Office in the near future. It just feels better to be using open standards no?

Linux Users

Do you even have to ask? The entire operating system and included applications are all open-source.

The Web

Whenever you visit a website like Digg the content is automatically updated and generated for your viewing pleasure. Chances are its running on the LAMP stack – Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP, check check check and check for open-source.

Google is my best friend. They also run Linux clusters so you get your search results in under a second.

Developers pay attention, Java is the most popular enterprise platform, and Sun just opened up its source for our hacking pleasure.

Whenever you blog on WordPress, or Drupal just know it was built using open source tools, and licensed under the GNU.

When I want information I go to Wikipedia. Wikipedia runs off of the open-source software MediaWiki which is also under the GNU.

Electrical Devices

Intel based computer’s have open source drivers. This means compatibility for everyone.

Set-top boxes like TiVo are using open source software to get you goodness on the big screen. MPlayer anyone?

As you can see open-source is all around us. The points I have mentioned are nowhere near the extent and true caliber of what open source delivers to us on a daily basis. Please enlighten me with your thoughts.

In my last post I mentioned why I chose Ubuntu over Windows. I stand by my comments, however I would like to shed some light where Ubuntu and Linux need a little work:

1. Not All Hardware is Supported

Though this is not Ubuntu’s fault, there are still hardware that does not work. This is due to the fact that some manufacturers don’t write drivers for Linux. I personally have not had any hardware problems myself, I am running a Dell 700m laptop with many different accessories such as a Western Digital external hard-drive. a Motorola bluetooth dongle, and headset which all work under Linux hassle free. Some home printers do not have drivers for Linux which can make printing a chore. There are ways to get around this, but the general user just wants everything to work out of the box.

I have good news however. Linux is gaining marketshare and with Dell selling Ubuntu amongst its retail channels will give Ubuntu more recognition which will result in manufacturers supporting the community with Linux drivers. There is also a community effort to reverse engineer drivers for new hardware which will help as well. Intel provides open-source drivers for all of their hardware making Lintel (Linux + Intel) a viable solution.

2. Lack of Professional Software

Photoshop is the industry standard graphics editing solution. Currently it is only available for Windows and OS X – leaving Ubuntu in the dust for the professional artist. Yes there are ways to get Photoshop running with Wine, or use Gimpshop (somewhat of a Photoshop clone) but again the average user does not want to have to mess with this. As I’ve stated before, with Linux popularity on the rise we may soon see more commercial development. Google and IBM are some of the biggest contributors to open-source.

3. Where Are The Games?

Linux gets no love from game developers. Microsoft has developers using Direct X which of course is proprietary to Windows. Linux is able to do almost anything you want it to do, given you perform some hacks and tweaks here and there. I’ve seen popular games like World of Warcraft run in a Linux environment – but the common motif here is concern for the average user.

4. Breakfast

Ubuntu can’t make your eggs sunny side up in the morning, but neither can any other operating system. Expecting a system to do anything and everything is a dream come true, but not always practical. Though this is no excuse for Ubuntu to sit back and relax. On a positive note, it is able to perform many tasks to make everyday life easier. If Ubuntu can jump through these hurdles – ladies and gentlemen we have a damn near perfect operating system.

*Notice how the features Ubuntu/Linux lacks are not really features in the software itself – it is the lack of 3rd party support from other manufacturers and vendors.

I grew up with Microsoft operating systems. I’ve been through MS-DOS 5.0, Win 3.1, Windows 95, 98, Millenium Edition, NT 4.0, 2000, and XP. Notice how I stopped there. After over a decade of Windows, I decided to give Ubuntu a try and now have no reason to install Vista. Here are ten reasons why I chose Ubuntu:

1. Performance

I think its pretty ridiculous to require at least 1GB of RAM, a dedicated graphics card (Aero), and additional USB thumb drives (ReadyBoast) to be able to run an operating system. Vista I’m looking at you. Ubuntu simply runs faster and does not demand that much hardware to do so – thats the beauty of the Linux kernel.

2. Applications out of the Box

The Windows’ application set is pretty weak right after a fresh install. You get a calculator, notepad and other archaic remnants of software developed in 1995 when Windows 95 was released. Ubuntu comes with Open Office, The Gimp (image editor), GAIM (instant messaging), and RhythymBox (music organizer) just to name a few.

3. Package Manager

When I do need to install software, I can search for whatever I want from the Universal Repository in Ubuntu. I can install or remove batches of programs in a single run. Not only this, but all my software updates automatically because Ubuntu (or Linux in general) uses the concepts of packages. In Windows, installing removing, and updating programs is painful and a lengthy process. A package manager makes things quick and smooth – not to mention software in the universal repository has been tested by the community to not break your system. You can’t garauntee that in Windows when you’re downloading executables from anywhere on the net.

4. Security

I don’t have to worry about viruses or spyware. Yes this sounds like an Apple fanboy thing to say, but its true. Linux is a derivative of UNIX which was built on the foundation of robustness and security. I’m not going to get into the details as to why it is more secure unless you want an operating systems lecture – but not having to run additional scanning software I get my beloved CPU cycles back, giving me better performance =D.

5. A Real Terminal

Use bash, the default terminal in Ubuntu for five minutes and you’ll see just how powerful it is compared to the Command Prompt. In fact the command prompt can’t really do much except for launch applications without having to install perl or other GNU libraries on top of it. With Bash I can write scripts gallore to extend the functionality of Ubuntu and make my life easier.

5. Restarting Your Computer Sucks Part 1

Ubuntu hardly ever requires a restart, but in the case you do need to restart its usually not the kernel that froze but your window manager. In Ubuntu I can restart my window manager without restarting my entire machine by pressing CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE. This is about a three second process. What happens when your screen freezes in Windows? You warm up a bowl of Easy Mac while you wait while Windows restarts.

6. Restarting Your Computer Sucks Part 2

Updates are a good thing, they patch up holes in software and make things run smoother. Whats bad is having to restart your computer when you have to make an update, ahem – Windows. In Ubuntu you can receive thousands of updates without having to restart your computer, in fact you can even download a new kernel and still be running the previous one. This is what software engineers dub “robustness.”

7. Six Month Release Cycle

Ubuntu is released with better features every 6 months. I would be pretty disappointed to have waited 5 years for Vista to see that its merely a dumbed down version of XP with a skirt.

8. No Pirating Necessary

With Ubuntu I don’t have to pirate my operating system. Its free. So is the included software. Even if you don’t pirate Windows you still feel the backlash from Microsoft because you are forced to download spyware such as Microsoft Genuine Advantage which verifies that your software is legit. Even if you’re the good guy you’re stuck paying over $200 for an operating system with spyware installed by default.

9. Choice

The Linux philosophy is about freedom. I have a choice between which window manager I want to use, I can extend any part of my operating system, I can tweak it to perform and look the way I want. Ubuntu is a reflection of me. In Windows you’re pretty much stuck with one interface, and no individuality. Maybe this was acceptable for older folks, but for those of us who are Generation Y – self expression are our strengths.

10. Community

Ubuntu stands for humanity to others. The Ubuntu community can help me answer any questions I have or solve any problems within one day. Thats a very quick response time, and the amount of knowledge in the forums, wiki’s, and blogosphere is astounding. I learn more and more every day. Granted, there are lots of Windows help on the internet, but nowhere is it as close to being streamlined as the Ubuntu team.